Tuesday, July 4, 2017

I might should have explained what I'm thinking before I started posting again. I assume you are still subscribed to MAYBETHINKING if you're seeing this in your inbox. Hurrah for me, you still know me.

I decided a few days ago to start posting again because my brain is full from so much thinking. So, you may be seeing emails from MAYBETHINKING from time to time in the coming weeks. Bear with me. I'm a little rusty.

Michele

Also, the URL for this blog is MAYBETHINKING.com
Please, please leave comments. That's what makes it fun.

The two flaws I see in most tiny house designs are the upstairs bedroom and lack of a truly comfortable place to sit and relax. Here are are my thoughts on how to remedy these two problems.

Let's change how the space is used.

First, let's bring the bed downstairs. I don't want to climb up and down a ladder in the middle of the night. But I don't mind doing it during the day. I want a couch that converts to a bed. Stay with me here. I have an idea. Here's a link to the sofa/bed I'm going to be talking about. Note it has lots of storage space underneath. CONVERTABLE COUCH.

My father had one in his RV and it was quite comfortable. It's bigger than I need so I would be happy to have just a regular couch and sleep on it. But if there are two people using the tiny house this is a way to have a small double bed. This is a comfortable couch. It has decent padding on the bottom and back and I'd use pillows as armrests. Also if you're having one or two people over it's a decent place to sit.

Come nightfall, you turn it into a bed. All you do is grab the front, pull, and the back drops down to form the bed. No removing bottom and back cushions as in a regular fold out couch. Take the bedding out from the storage space and put away any miscellaneous items you've been using on the couch during the day. I would also suggest getting over the whole idea of a fitted bottom sheet, top sheet blankets etc. etc. etc. Bed sacks seem like a great idea to me. Bottom and top sheet in one add a comforter and you're there. Another obvious advantage is that you are at a reasonable height to get out of the bed. No getting off the floor. And, you're on the same level as the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Here's my second thought. Even though the couch is pretty comfortable I'd like to have a seating area with all my stuff near it and an ottoman upon which to rest my feet. Enter the unused space upstairs. Here's what I'd like up there. With a lovely table for stuff. And maybe a small table to use as a desk.

I understand I won't be able to stand up. I'd rather hunch over to enter or leave the loft than crawl out of the bed to the ladder. And, in that I'm going to use this during the day at least when I reach the ladder or stairs I'll be able to see them.

I think to make this a really effective space I might need to make the kitchen ceiling height 7" rather than 8". I'm fine with that.

So, that's what I think.

So, what are your thoughts? Please put them in the comments here or on Facebook. I've been doing some other thinking so expect some more posts as the weeks go by.

Monday, July 3, 2017

Aren't "tiny houses" so very cute? They draw us in with their promise of easy, clutter free living. I love the wood, tiny appliances, and cool, tricky design features. And yet, when I stop to visualize living in a tiny house on a daily basis the allure dims.

Daily living means sitting, standing, accessing and using stuff. It means cooking, showering, going to the bathroom and sleeping. And that's where my first problem with tiny house design comes rushing in.

My first steps after hours in bed are often a bit stiff and a little tentative. I don't really notice it in my house and I suspect when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night I don't even thoroughly wake up. Enter my greatest problem with tiny house design-the stairs, or heaven forbid, the ladder.

I have never seen a tiny house design that doesn't have the double bed in the loft. You want me to climb down a ladder in the pitch dark at three o'clock in the morning to pee? Really? That was fine when I had a loft bed at Caroline's when I was 25. But now...no thanks! I suppose that tiny houses will also re-introduce the chamber pot. I'm not against a chamberpot. Funny they're never shown in the pictures.

And speaking of that bed, how good are you at getting off of a mattress which is lying on the floor? Oh, and don't forget, you can't stand up. You have to crawl. On your knees? I recently saw a tiny house that was built for a grandmother. Yeah, I can see a 75-year-old woman climbing up a ladder to then crawl to her bed. Then somehow climbing up and down that ladder in the middle of the night to ...well you know.

Now let's go downstairs. I have looked at hundreds of tiny home pictures, in only one have I ever, ever seen a comfortable seat. Do you want to sit on plywood with a piece of 4 inch foam on top? For hours? I don't, I bet you don't either. And when I am relaxing in my living room I like to put my feet up. And I like to rest my arms on armrests.

A tiny kitchen seems OK to me but I am amazed I've never seen an over the sink cabinet that also serves as the dish drainer. Those Europeans, they're pretty smart. The dishes are stacked vertically on a wire rack with the bottom of the cabinet open to allow the dishes to drip down into the sink as they dry. Brilliant! I'm also good with a tiny bathroom. No problem there.

NEXT INSTALLMENT Coming soon:
My ideas for a tiny house design that makes better sense for folks who are perhaps, not so supple as they once were and who enjoy long comfortable hours of lounging.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

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Amazing. I've always wondered why anyone making less than $250K a year would vote Republican.

Well...here's a stab at an answer. Check out this post at Neatorama. The original article is at The Economist.

Basically the PEW research suggests that people do not want to be at the bottom of the ladder. They feel that helping people who have less than they do to have more, and thus have more than they do, and thus be above them, is not something they want.

Note: they also address the idea that people hope they will be rich someday and that's why they don't want to tax the rich-because they see it as against their future interest. But here we're talking about people who will NEVER be rich.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Rex (the Mangia dinosaur currently residing on top of Wheatsville on Guadalupe) is fighting the hardest battle of his life. Rex has always lived and worked for Jeff & Michelle Sayers (the creator and original owners of Mangia Pizza). Now another company is trying to force Rex to come and work for them. As you probably already know, Mangia Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and because of this another company is trying to convince creditors to let them have the company.

Rex does not want to live or to work for the other company!!! Rex needs your help in trying to convince the authorities to let him stay with Jeff & Michelle Sayers. Already, Jeff has stepped back in as the managing partner and made several changes so that Mangia's will be able to pay off the creditors and continue to feed Austinites.

You can help Rex by eating often at Mangia's on Mesa and by forwarding this email to every Austinite you know! You can also help by getting your company to use Mangia's catering. It is vital that Mangia is able to convince the Judge that the business is doing well and that sales are strong.

Rex has decided that if Jeff and Michelle Sayers are able to fend off the outside company, he is ready to move back to the Mesa location. Please look for specials and updates on the Mangia websitewww.mangiapizza.com and also show Rex support by signing a letter of support when you visit Mangia on Mesa. Please also join Rex on facebook.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

It stands 116 feet tall on the church ground of Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico, and has the distinction of having the single widest trunk of any tree known on Earth: 38.1 feet in diameter. This is stouter than any known sequoia or coast redwood. The best estimate so far of its age dates it to anywhere from 1,400 to 1,600 years old. This actually concurs with a local Zapotec legend that tells of its planting 1,400 years ago by, Ehecatl, the Aztec wind god.

Monday, July 25, 2011

I have always thought Seton was the best hospital in Austin. And I'd never go to Brac. Heck-it's the public hospital so it couldn't be very good.

Well, as it turns out there's a Medicare Hospital Comparison website that lets you see how Austin hospitals stack up. I chose to compare Seton, Brac and St. David's because they're all within a couple miles of my house.

Patients were asked a series of ten questions. St. David's consistently came out on top-by less than 5 percentage points, followed by Seton then Brac. But there was rarely more than a 5% difference.

Mostly the questions were "customer service" type questions. "Patients who reported that their nurses "Always" communicated well." etc. There wasn't a "I recovered" question. So who even knows whether they got successful care.

General rating:
Patients who gave their hospital a rating of 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
St. David's- 72%
Seton- 63%
Brac- 61%

Just thought you'd like to know if you end up in an ambulance and they ask where you'd like to go.

One additional note: The number of hospitals you can compare is about a dozen. Just to see, I did an additional comparison using hospitals in the 'burbs. They scored up to 10 percentage points higher on the general rating question.
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